Four hundred coffee-growing families, victims of violence in
Colombia's south western department of Nariño, will be able
to sell their coffee in the Starbucks chain thanks to an agreement
worth USD 600,000 signed between the Colombian coffee exporting
company Empresas de Nariño, the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) and IOM.

The agreement seeks to improve the production conditions for
coffee-growing families by linking them to the export coffee value
chain through the formation of associations that sell the bean
directly to Empresas de Nariño.

The families will receive technical assistance on agricultural
good practices, plans for protecting soils and diversifying farms
and a system for managing the waste water from coffee production.
Coffee drying patios and greenhouses will also be built.

Training on business practices, association awareness, and help
to set up coffee marketing associations with follow up and
monitoring will be provided in addition by IOM and other
entities.

This is the second project developed by Empresas de
Nariño, Starbucks and IOM in Nariño. A similar
agreement supported by the Dutch Embassy in Colombia was carried
out between 2005 and 2007. It benefitted 1,160 coffee- growing
families from 10 municipalities in the northern coffee growing area
of Nariño. 

Nariño is among those areas particularly affected by
armed groups and drug traffickers, ranking fifth in the country in
terms of numbers of victims of violence, according to Acción
Social. It also says nearly 140,500 people have been displaced from
the department.

The National Narcotics Department (DNE) claims that 24 per cent
of all illicit crops planted in the country are found in
Nariño. This is despite fumigation, manual eradication and
alternative development programmes being carried out by the
government in that area.

For further information, please contact:

Adriana Correa

IOM Colombia

Tel: (571) 6227774 Ext. 140

E-mail: "mailto:adcorrea@iom.int">adcorrea@iom.int